1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a collapsible corrugated fiberboard shipping container for shipping relatively large volumes and weights of materials in bulk. The container has a front panel that can be removed from the other elements of the container to facilitate the loading and the unloading of the container. A container according to the present invention can be permanently attached to or placed on a conventional wood or plastic pallet or a slip sheet for use and reuse with such pallet or slip sheet, or it can be used and reused without an associated pallet or slip sheet.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Collapsible corrugated fiberboard containers have been proposed for use in the shipment of bulk materials, the collapsibility of such containers permitting the convenient return of such containers to the shipping point, after the emptying of the containers, to permit the reuse of such containers. The volume of such containers is frequently very large, which permits the packaging of large weights of bulk materials therein. Because the weight of the filled container can often be beyond the handling capabilities of the personnel who are engaged in the shipping or other handling of the filled container, it is usually necessary to design the container to be handled by means of a forklift truck. Thus, certain of such collapsible fiberboard containers are designed to be attached to a conventional wood or plastic pallet and to be shipped with the associated pallet in filled condition throughout the movement of the filled container, and to be shipped in collapsed condition with the associated pallet back to the shipping point to permit the reuse of the container. U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,637 (Shippell) and 3,291,364 (Fischer) describe collapsible, pallet mounted, corrugated fiberboard shipping containers of the aforesaid type.
Frequently, however, it is desired to provide a collapsible corrugated fiberboard bulk shipping container which can be used independently of a plastic or wood pallet, to avoid the need for accommodating the weight and volume of the pallet in the return of the collapsed container for refilling and reuse. It is possible to mechanically handle a heavy, filled bulk container without having a pallet thereunder, by placing the container on a thin sheet of paper or other sheetlike material, known as a slip sheet, which readily permits a forklike truck tool to engage a free end of the slip sheet to permit the mechanical handling of the filled container. The use of such a slip sheet is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,161 (Taylor, et al.). Collapsible, corrugated fiberboard bulk shipping containers which are designed to be used without associated pallets are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,077 (Kupersmit) and 4,252,266 (Kupersmit).